Art & Design - Master by Research (MRes)

The MRes (A&D) is project led. Students identify a research topic and question/s and build upon that, whilst learning a range of research methods and by testing their ideas in a supportive but rigorous community of artist and designer researchers.

The course begins with no preconception whatsoever with regards to where student projects might start or how they might develop and has an open mind regarding the possibilities of creative research practices in Art & Design.

The programme will familiarise and connect you with our world leading research expertise in Cardiff School of Art & Design. Our research ranges across the empirical and the scientific to the poetic and speculative, drawing upon the Arts, Sciences, Humanities and Philosophies.

We encourage projects that seek to work in a multidisciplinary, co-disciplinary or transdisciplinary way with other research disciplines as well as commercial and community sectors in society anywhere in the world and of course the other research centres across the wider University.

The programme length is three semesters full time and five semesters part time. Each of the credited modules runs for one semester:

• Semester One (Autumn) – Research Territories
• Semester Two (Spring) – Research Skills
• Semester Three (Summer) – Research Output or for (full-time students only) an option is offered
• Semester Three (Autumn) – Research Output

Full-time students may or may not choose to include a break during the summer. Students may use this period as they see fit for family time or a vacation, personal research, work experience or to return to employment.

A full-time student starting the programme in October may complete either the following September (by continuing the programme through July and August, 12 months duration) or the following December (when a break is taken over the summer period, 18-month duration).

UK/EU students must notify the programme and school of their intentions prior to commencing the ‘Research Output’ module in semester three.

Students from outside of the UK/EU must notify the Programme, School and International Office prior to initial visa application.

First Semester ART7111

Students begin by undertaking a module that is designed to orientate them around a research idea and territory, to develop their ability to focus and to develop their self-confidence with art and design research in its many forms.

The module is closely taught and supervised around a series of seminars that are conducted in a spirit of open intellectual generosity and rigorous interrogation of ideas. By the end of the module students will have a clear sense of their research, its feasibility and their place in its developing ‘territory’.

Second Semester

Students then undertake a specialised Research Skills module in the second semester, embedding them more thoroughly and rigorously within a research route.

The research skills training the MRes (A&D) programme offers is designed with students from varied backgrounds in mind. Besides being suitable for students who already have some experience of research in Art & Design, perhaps at undergraduate level, the programme has been designed to welcome a wider, global, community. By the end of the module students will have gained the research expertise to underpin their ideas with a clear method of research as well as the skills to interrogate ideas and data.

Third Semester

Students conclude the programme by undertaking a final module which enables them to develop a brief research thesis (in the form of a text supporting a body of practice and/or a text) as well a draft proposal for a generic initial, research degree scoping proposal at Cardiff Met or any other university.

At the end of this module students will have a clear sense of their potential future as a research degree student.

Semester One and Two

A single zero-credited module runs alongside the other modules, providing a series of research and Ideas seminars.

The content of this module is determined by the research activity of CSAD staff. Staff and PhD/DProf students elect to run a series of seminars, based on their research in art and design, and which will invite further enquiry from students, underpinned by specific theoretical and historical material.

Each speaker is invited to share their research work for 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of formal Q&A and then informal discussions.

The programme is designed to be an enriching and rigorous student-centred learning experience, orientated around personalised tutorial support and guidance.

The course is collaborative, intellectually generous and supportive and designed to provide students with an opportunity to engage in thoughtful and sustained reflection, scholarship and focus as well as an opportunity for speculative exploration and inquisitive enquiry.

The programme will accommodate all types of directed and speculative art and design research. It is designed to enable future doctoral expertise orientated around the development of a research expertise in Art, Design and Architecture.

In keeping with the School’s approach to research, the programme will not specifically distinguish between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ as modes of research but will take a holistic, broad and inclusive – yet ultimately rigorous – approach to research skills development oriented around – the best way to answer the identified research question.

Students taking the programme can align with specific research and experimental practice pathways, led by academic staff with established practice careers and/or advanced scholarship and research.

The programme is taught entirely through ‘roundtable’ seminars with individualised supervisory meetings. These seminars enable students to develop a research plan and an individualised programme of learning with individualised supervision towards a creative and rigorous research outcome.

This seminar-based teaching combined with online delivery and assessment means that the programme can be studied flexibly both on campus and/or from a remote location.

Students may elect to spend all their time studying on campus or from a remote location and can change modes of study with ease.

All credited modules are assessed via a ‘portfolio’ comprising coursework, including text and presentation, viva-voce and practice if appropriate and as detailed in the module description, handbook and briefing documentation.

The portfolio assessment is critical to master’s level assessment in Art & Design and is a long-established and widely used methodology in that field. The portfolio assessment is familiar to undergraduate students and has been used for some years in the other programmes in the School of Art & Design and has proved very successful. The portfolio assessment is designed with the transdisciplinary and inter-disciplinary nature of Art and Design practice and research in mind. Art and Design research commonly combines textual material with creative practice in varying amounts, accordingly the portfolio assessment consists of a combination of:

• Academic text
• Speculative text
• Directed text (i.e., Research Proposal)
• Practice
• Viva Voce
• Presentation
• Exhibition

These items are not assessed as individual items but taken as a body of work in a single ‘portfolio’ assessment to arrive at a single summative mark. It is the responsibility of the student to reflect upon what it is necessary for them to present in their portfolio to meet the learning outcomes and to ensure in their viva voce that they can convey critical insight and depth of knowledge in the connectivity and coherence between the various forms of text-practice-presentation-exhibition.

This programme provides an excellent foundation for a career in creative research, as an arts professional who undertakes any form of research driven practice in their field, or for anyone planning to go on to complete a PhD or DProf. The programme is ideal for students who want to prepare for doctoral level research in Art & Design or to develop a range of creative research skills to enhance their practice or career, nationally and internationally.

The MRes (A&D) concludes with the development of a Personal Research Development Plan. This is intended to provide evidence of students’ mastery of research in Art & Design as well as provide a document that can be useful when applying for future Doctoral study at any university.

A good undergraduate honours degree (2.1 or above) is normally required for entry. However, applicants with relevant professional experience or qualifications are welcomed and will be considered individually and students who have a weaker overall undergraduate degree but who have demonstrated excellence in the theoretical aspects of Art & Design will also be considered.

International Applicants:

Students whose first language is not English will need to provide evidence of fluency to at least an IELTS 6.5 (6.5 listening and 6.0 in each other element) standard or equivalent. For full details about how to apply and English Language qualifications, please visit the International pages on the website.

Selection Procedure:

Once a student application has been received, they may be invited in person or via Microsoft Teams (or similar) for a short meeting with the Programme Director or nominee to discuss the programme in more detail and consider how the programme will suit their background and future needs.

How to Apply:

Applications for this course should be made direct to the University via our self-service facility. For further information please visit our How to Apply pages.

Before making an application, EU/International students are asked to contact Dr Fiaz Hussain (fhussain@cardiffmet.ac.uk) to discuss the necessary procedures in relation to studying with us.

If you are interested in using credit from another institution or have obtained qualifications and/or experience to study for a course at Cardiff Met, you can find further information on this as well as information on how to apply on the RPL page.

Tuition Fees and Financial Support:

For up-to-date information on tuition fees and the financial support that may be available, please refer to www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/fees.

Part-time Fees:

Charges are per Single Module unless specified: Undergraduate = 10 Credits; Postgraduate = 20 Credits. Generally we find most students will complete 60 credits per year for both Undergraduate and Postgraduate study; to obtain a true costing please clarify this by contacting the Programme Director directly.

For general enquiries please contact the Admissions Team on 029 2041 6044 or email askadmissions@cardiffmet.ac.uk.

If you are a UK/EU student, please contact Dr Stephen Thompson (sthompson@cardiffmet.ac.uk).

If you are an International student, please contact Dr Fiaz Hussain (fhussain@cardiffmet.ac.uk).

Candidates will complete 80 credits of taught research-related study (the Taught Phase) and 100 credits of independent research (the Research Phase). Candidates will benefit from the flexibility of the programme by choosing the modules appropriate to their research project.

In the Taught Phase of the programme candidates complete 40 credits of modules (2 x 20 credits) on core research-related topics alongside their peers from other MRes pathways and 40 credits of modules (2 x 20 credits) aligned with their subject area.

The Taught Phase – Core Modules

Module 1 – Developing Your Research Idea

This first module provides candidates with a grounding in the research process, covering aspects such as: personal research philosophies, generating aims and objectives, research methodologies, working collaboratively, research ethics and developing sustainability in research, critical writing, literature searching and reference management, intellectual property, and design thinking for human-centred approaches.

Module 3

Candidates choose 1 of the following:

• Developing Quantitative Research Skills
• Developing Mixed Methods Research Skills
• Developing Qualitative Research Skills

Candidates will select to follow either a quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods research skills specialism depending on the nature of their intended area of study in the Research Phase. These modules will cover topics including project management, conducting and interpreting statistical tests, methods of presenting results, writing for academic audiences, and study skills. Based on an understanding of research design (Module 1), research skills (Module 3) and the subject specialism (Module 2), a research proposal for their final research project will be developed and submitted as a method of assessment in this module. Additionally, candidates will also need to submit an ethics proposal at this stage of their candidature.

The Taught Phase – Requisite Modules

All candidates enrolled on the MRes in Art & Design will complete the Preparing for Your Research Project modules.

Module 2 and Module 4 – Preparing for Your Research Project 1 and 2

Candidates will develop attributes necessary for their chosen research project. Following an asynchronous module introduction, and discussions with their supervisory team, candidates will need to decide on which assessment route they wish to pursue in the module (see below for potential options). Academic support will be provided throughout the module courtesy of the supervisory team. The suite of assessments is intentionally broad to account for candidates that need to develop different areas such as:

• practical clinical skills (example assessment – practical or portfolio development)
• refining data collection techniques (example assessment – technical report on pilot data)
• writing skills (example assessment – narrative/systematic review)
• design concepts (example assessment – prototype development)

Module 5 – Research Project

Candidates will complete an independent research project, weighted at 100 credits, in which they will be able to apply their newly acquired expertise in research and subject-specific knowledge. The final research project will be discipline-specific and can take the form of the following submission types:

• Traditional thesis/research dissertation (up to 20,000 words maximum)
• 1-2 research manuscript(s) for peer-review

The final project will be assessed via a formal viva voce examination. Consideration will be given to the quality and content of the written submission, but also the way the candidate independently and articulately defends their work.

The exit point for this course will be the Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) in Research Principles gained through the successful completion of 60 credits of study.

Throughout the MRes, a variety of L&T methods will be employed including:

• scheduled online asynchronous delivery of lectures and seminars (e.g., flipped or pre-recorded teaching, accessing recorded lectures or videos, learning activities designed online, contribution to discussion for group work)
• face-to-face interactions with supervisory team members
• scheduled situational learning (e.g., field work, data gathering, scheduled lab work with supervision)
• scheduled academic support (e.g., assessment workshops, in-person feedback, subject based tutorial sessions, academic skills sessions, research supervision)
• independent guided learning (e.g., preparation of flipped reading, independent study for assignments, studio or lab work on individual projects, reading and research, independent access of specific academic skills support)

This is supported via the Moodle VLE, which provides access to key materials, handouts and research papers.

A significant amount of work will be required by the candidates through independent learning and self-study. Such study enables candidates to independently develop their understanding of the module concepts and to complete formative and summative exercises.

Each candidate will also be allocated a Supervisory Team at the outset of the programme. Candidates are expected to liaise with their Supervisory Team during their studies, and to keep them abreast of progress via regular ‘milestone review meetings’.

In the Taught Phase of the MRes, each module has its own form of assessment. Most modules are assessed via a coursework portfolio which can include some of the following options:

• Research Articles
• Practical Experience Portfolios
• Design-related Outputs
• Creative and Artistic Works
• Critical Analysis of Published Research
• Systematic Literature Review Process
• Posters
• Ethics Reviews
• Research Bids
• Research Proposal

In the Research Phase of the MRes, candidates will be supported by their supervisory team to complete a final research project consisting of either:

• A traditional thesis/research dissertation (up to 20,000 words maximum)
• 1-2 research manuscript(s) for peer-review (note, the manuscripts do not need to have been formally submitted to a peer-review journal as part of the assessment)

The final research project will then be assessed via a formal Viva Voce Examination.

The MRes prepares candidates for the next stage in their research career, whether pursuing a further research programme (such as a PhD or Taught Doctorate) or entering research-based employment.

MRes graduates will have developed core skills in critical thinking, reflection and academic writing, research design and research methods, ethics and integrity, and issues aligned with trusted research.

The programme is designed for graduates from a range of different disciplines. The specific entry requirements include:

• An honours degree (2.1 classification or above) in a relevant discipline
• Candidates with exceptional and extensive work experience in management roles will also be considered for entry to the programme

International Applicants

Students whose first language is not English will need to provide evidence of fluency to at least an IELTS 6.5 standard (with minimum 6.5 in the Reading and Writing components) or equivalent. For full details about how to apply and English Language qualifications please visit the International pages on the website.

Selection Procedure

Students are normally selected based on a fully completed application form accompanied by:

• a curriculum vitae (CV) outlining evidence of prior knowledge of the subject
• a degree transcript, module syllabi for subject-specific knowledge and a copy of prior dissertations
• a personal statement
• a research proposal (maximum 1500 words) which outlines their research area
• academic references

Applicants will be asked to attend for interview if the research proposal and application stage is acceptable. Interviews can be held via in person, via Teams or phone with the MRes School Co-ordinator and Graduate Studies Co-ordinator before any offer is made.

How to Apply

Applications for this course should be made direct to the University via our self-service application system. For further information please visit our How to Apply pages.

MRes candidates are invited to be part of the Cardiff Met Doctoral Research Community and connect with peers studying research degrees in a wide array of fields.

Candidates will be able to access dedicated study and social spaces across campuses such as School specific spaces and the Doctoral Researcher Centre located on Cyncoed campus which is available to all research degree candidates.

As part of the Doctoral Researcher Community, MRes candidates will have their voice represented by the Doctoral Researcher Group (DRG) to represent and advocate their interests and feedback. The DRG contains representatives from each academic School and candidates are encouraged to connect with their School representatives to provide feedback on their experience. The DRG organise an annual Doctoral Researcher Conference which provides candidates with an opportunity to gain experience of presenting their research in a conference setting to their peers in a supportive environment. In addition to the annual conference, the DRG organise various events throughout the year such as Peer-to-Peer sessions and networking and social events. Events will also be organised by Schools, such as Writing Retreats, and centrally, such as research skills training, where candidates can engage with peers beyond their cohort.

For course specific enquiries, please contact csadresdegrees@cardiffmet.ac.uk.

For general enquiries, please contact the Admissions Team on 029 2041 6044 or email askadmissions@cardiffmet.ac.uk.